A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online
payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.
Bitcoin and the Quiet Power of Not Needing Permission
People often argue about Bitcoin as if its success depends on convincing everyone else it’s a good idea. That’s understandable—we’re wired to think persuasion drives adoption. But most durable technologies don’t win debates. They quietly make themselves useful.
Bitcoin doesn’t ask for trust. It doesn’t care about credentials, intentions, or narratives. It works the same way on good days and bad ones, which is rare in finance. Most systems perform best when confidence is high and break when it disappears. Bitcoin does the opposite—it was designed for when trust is lowest.
Price matters to people because price buys freedom. Higher prices allow individuals to exit systems they don’t like, fund their own education, and take risks that compound over time. But price doesn’t matter to Bitcoin itself. The network settles transactions whether it’s fashionable or forgotten.
This distinction causes confusion. Some see institutional involvement as validation, others as corruption. Both miss the point. Institutions don’t define Bitcoin’s value; they adapt to it. They always have. That’s what institutions do when confronted with something they can’t control.
What’s most interesting is who won’t need to be convinced. Machines don’t respond to marketing. AI agents won’t debate monetary policy or care about social legitimacy. They’ll choose tools that are predictable, final, and globally interoperable. Bitcoin fits that description in a way few systems do.
In the long run, the market won’t care who explained Bitcoin best. It will care who used it when it mattered. And the quiet advantage of a system that doesn’t need permission is that it keeps working long after the arguments fade.
- Markets may fluctuate; settlement continues.
Fiat Bitcoinists are going to hate 2026 - I'm here to buy their tears in the streets when the hour comes
Chart is becoming a mess and I'm going to remove some time trends from lower time frames. I thought the bullish retracement would have provided a higher time frame down trend (required a more bullish retracement). That didn't happen. Rather price closed at a new weekly low. closed under the weekly trend for the first time in 3 years, retested and sold off. I extend these trends out as far as I can. Time wise that's where price could be by May of this year if the trend remains intact. In 2022 the 2nd leg down shared the same trend on the 12 and 4hr. This time the highest time frame I have is 4h - I've been eying the same areas of interest as Peter Brandt since the end of October. I am not calling a bottom from here. I'll call a bottom when we're at a bottom. I wish I started this on NOSTR months ago, but I've decided that I'm here now. I don't have to call turns, I already said market structure didn't support the bullish case. I'm here because i plan on taking loans using HODL HODL if it's useful and makes sense. Have you ever tried it? I played with it a few years back. The platform works as advertised, just a very limited hang out, not a lot of choice there. I think it's pretty cool, but you take on stable coin risk
Was 97.9K the high for 2026? This week I'm going to watch to see how price bounced between the 1h and 12hr trends. It looks a lot like a falling wedge pattern is forming, which could be the pattern that sets up the next down trend. What's the play? Build a your cash position. Sell your extra chairs, get that OT. Work your ass off for the next 5 months so you can be a buy the blood in the streets. If a rally is produced from this wedge I'd definitely look to fade it
Weekly is closing below the trend and the weekly low set by the first wave in the 2026 bear market. 2022 produced a second down trend on the 12h time frame. I was looking for that fractal coming out of this correction, but so far that has not materialized
